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The following is a statement from NASA Administrator Bill Nelson on Monday\u2019s passing of Thomas Stafford, a lifelong space exploration advocate, former NASA astronaut, and U.S. Air Force general:\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cToday, General Tom Stafford went to the eternal heavens, which he so courageously explored as a Gemini and Apollo astronaut as well as a peacemaker in the Apollo-Soyuz mission. Those of us privileged to know him are very sad but grateful we knew a giant.<\/p>\n
\u201cTom was critical to the earliest successes of our nation\u2019s space program and was instrumental in developing space as a\u00a0model for international cooperation. He also helped us learn from our tragedies and grow and reach for the next generation of achievement. He was intimately involved with the space program, sharing his thoughts and suggestions on NASA missions until the end of his life.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cTom was a gentleman and a daredevil. He flew our first rendezvous in space on Gemini 6, and piloted Gemini 9\u2019s path to Earth with pencil and paper when the spacecraft\u2019s guidance computer failed in orbit. He commanded Apollo 10, the first flight of the lunar module to the Moon, a critical test flight that resulted in the successful landing on the Moon during the Apollo 11 mission. Tom also flew more than 100 different types of aircraft throughout his career as he pushed the edge of the envelope of our achievement in air and space.\u00a0He was an extraordinary peacemaker who commanded NASA\u2019s first rendezvous of an international spacecraft on the Apollo-Soyuz mission. His counterpart, General Alexei Leonov, became a best friend over the years. Tom gave Alexei\u2019s eulogy in 2019 at the Russian state funeral.<\/p>\n
\u201cTom\u2019s dedication to NASA never wavered. In later years, he chaired a team to independently advise NASA on how to carry out President H.W. Bush\u2019s space policy and completed the study \u2018America at the Threshold\u2019 about the nation\u2019s potential future with humans in space. He also was co-chairman of the Stafford-Covey Space Shuttle Return to Flight Task Group that assessed NASA\u2019s implementation of the Columbia Accident Investigation Board Space Shuttle Return to Flight recommendations.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur nation will be forever grateful to an explorer who never lost his sense of wonder. About his time in space, he said, \u2018It changes you, oh sure. Changes your outlook\u2026As you look back, you see a little blue and white baseball, actually, it\u2019s smaller than a baseball. But it\u2019s hard to envision that is where all the people you\u2019ve known all your life are, where you went to school, your friends, your family. It\u2019s also hard to envision that there are three billion people on that blue and white baseball.\u2019\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cGodspeed, Tom Stafford.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
For more information about Stafford\u2019s NASA career, and his agency biography, visit:\u00a0<\/p>\n
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-end-<\/p>\n
Faith McKie \/ Cheryl Warner \u00a0
Headquarters, Washington \u00a0
202-358-1600 \u00a0
faith.d.mckie@nasa.gov \/\u202fcheryl.m.warner@nasa.gov\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n